


A Slip of the Tongue

by Mystery_Name



Series: USM One-Shots [2]
Category: Ultimate Spider-Man (Cartoon 2012)
Genre: Gen, Taskmaster is smart, Uncovering secret identites, and Taskmaster does, anyone could figure it out, because he's good at his job, gotta hate the intelligent villains, he's no idiot, the kids revealed a lot about themselves in "Why I Hate the Gymn"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 15:13:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29611317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mystery_Name/pseuds/Mystery_Name
Summary: Following the events of season 1, episode 6 "Why I Hate the Gym," Taskmaster returns to his base, intent on finding out the alter egos of Spider-Man and his team. And with how that fight went, honestly, how hard can it be?
Series: USM One-Shots [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2111907
Comments: 14
Kudos: 25





	A Slip of the Tongue

Darkness.

The only light in the room is a blue glow and it's coming from one of the computer screens set against the wall. It makes the room feel colder than it is, sending light in some areas, but casting the rest in darker pockets of shadow. Maybe that was a good thing. There would be no warmth for the answers the man was looking for.

He sits at the desk, pulled up close to the keyboard, and is wearing an outfit that might've been considered bizarre in any other world. It's a full-body combat suit, grey, white and black in color, and equipped with enough weapons to give the US government a heart attack, both visible and invisible to the naked eye. Normally he had a white, hooded cloak on, as well as a skeletal mask to hide his face, but he was at his base which was so secure even SHIELD had yet to knock down his door, so he didn't bother with that precautionary measure.

His name was Taskmaster; assassin, mercenary, and a nearly unbeatable combat chameleon. Enemy of SHIELD and instructor of his own school for mercenaries. He was skilled in nearly all levels of combat, with any weapon imaginable, and accompanied with his photogenic memory and weapons savant nature, it made him one of the most notorious mercenaries in the entire world - only if you could afford his rates.

Right now though, he isn't on a job, nor is he looking for one. He has a different objective in mind.

After a rather humiliating defeat from Spider-Man and White Tiger at Midtown High, he wanted more than ever to put those "heroes" in their place. Taskmaster wasn't one for licking his wound and running off with his tail tucked between his legs, he patched himself up through information and planning. And despite how agitating Spider-Man was, Taskmaster was still rather intrigued with him - whether his interests were good or bad were yet to be determined.

Spider-Man's speed, his agility, strength, and reflexes - it was fascinating. There possibilities that one would have with powers like that. It was a shame Spider-Man rejected his offer to teach him, he would've made an excellent mercenary.

Alas, all of that potential was wasted on an idiotic boy who couldn't stop his mouth from running. Taskmaster didn't believe for a second that Spider-Man was, well, a _man_. At least not a full-grown one. He was nothing but a delinquent kid pretending he's a big boy, a teenager, probably no older than 16, maybe 17, despite what the hero-wannabe wanted the public to believe.

Taskmaster could tell in the way the boy carried himself. His attitude was a bit too juvenile to be adult, his habits too pubescent, and his knowledge of the school too familiar. Why would SHIELD equip a single New York school with so many "security systems" if it wasn't housing a gaggle of their agents anyway? It couldn't just be for precautionary reasons either, as SHIELD hadn't been inclined to include these systems in any other school in the city. Besides, Coulson was acting as the principal there, which was weird in itself (unless the agent developed a new hobby since the last time Taskmaster saw him - which he doubted), so there had to be a reason behind it.

Taskmaster believed that not only did Spider-Man attend Midtown High, but the rest of his little SHIELD team did as well. White Tiger also knew an astonishing amount about the school and its layout - not to mention she made the mistake of revealing that he cut her from the " _City-Wide Athletic Achievement Contest_ ", which was entirely made up, so it was really all the evidence he needed.

Now, it was just a matter of finding out who they are.

He told Octavius that Spider-Man wasn't at Midtown, but that was only so he didn't have anyone else poking around and trying to uncover the boys' identity before he could, and after watching the man throw a tantrum, he returned to his base to begin his search.

Before leaving Midtown he downloaded a file of all the students in the school, their classes, and their schedules, and looking through them once he already had them committed to memory. Of course, it would've been easier getting Spider-Man's entire file from the SHIELD database in Coulson's computer, but that was overloaded with so many clearance codes, security measures, and firewalls that Taskmaster would've needed a few days (at least) and all his software to decrypt it - and that was if he had the time and went unnoticed. Hacking SHIELD wasn't like hacking into a bank or a politician's email; the organization was so paranoid you'd have to pry their secrets from their cold dead fingers. Not that it mattered, Taskmaster was confident he could figure out the identities of a few _kids_.

The first thing he did was go through the students he had in his PE classes, the ones he told about the athletic contest, and searched for students who could possibly be White Tiger. As he looked up names and recalled faces, he went through each individual's performance in the obstacle course and compared it to the style and physique of the girl.

There were a few girls who were disappointed about not making the "cut", so Taskmaster made a few calculations and comparisons and came up with three total options who could be White Tiger: 1) Laura Walker, 2) Ashlynn Williams and 3) Ava Ayala. He was leaning more toward the last one, but the other two were good candidates as well.

But Taskmaster put that on hold to focus on Daniel Rand. He mentioned Daniel while fighting White Tiger, which oddly enough distracted her. Not in the familiar _did-you-just-harm-an-innocent-kid_ hero fashion, but more of a _what-did-you-do-to-my-friend_ kind of way. Which meant White Tiger was close to the Rand kid, and friends (especially teens) always stuck together in school.

It didn't take long to piece Daniel Rand as Iron Fist; it was stupidly obvious actually. Both Iron Fist and Daniel were from Kun'Lun, an isolated kingdom in its own pocket dimension - so not many kids came from there. Not to mention Rand's fist glowed the same way Iron Fist's did, and he had the fighting style that no normal kid would have. Taskmaster chuckled, shaking his head. Fury needed to give these kids a crash course on secret identities - they couldn't go around giving away obvious facts like that if they wanted to stay discrete.

After coming to that conclusion, Taskmaster went through the people Rand associated himself with, which was where his photogenic memory came in real handy. Once he saw something once, he never forgot it. He could bring up memories better and clearer than any video camera ever could. Rand didn't socialize with many kids outside a small group of 5, and who else had 5 members on their team? Spider-Man did.

Taskmaster was almost bored with how easy this was.

Rand spent most of his time around a kid named Luke Cage; Cage was tall, powerfully built, and had buzzed hair. An "amazing" resemblance to Powerman.

Cage led to another boy going by Sam Alexander.

Alexander was a little more perplexing - but only a little. Taskmaster believed him to be the Nova of the group, mostly because of his attitude and habits. It was harder to physically compare Alexander to the human rocket, mostly because of the bulk of Nova's suit. But not soon after, Ava Ayala appeared as a part of their teenage entourage, which validated his theory of her being White Tiger.

After that, it left only one person: Peter Parker.

This one really did leave Taskmaster confused.

Parker had been the worst show of athletic performance in _all_ of Taskmaster's PE classes. That kid could've easily been the most physically challenged person he knew. But...when Taskmaster thought about it, Parker did have a surprising amount of muscle, at least of what could be seen through those baggy gym clothes anyway. He was the perfect height and build too.

But, there was another problem: Their personalities didn't align _at all._ Spider-Man was a loud, obnoxious, social, and cocky hero who pushed himself into everyone's business. Parker, on the other hand, was quieter, he had a small social circle, kept to himself mostly, and was bullied by Flash Thompson (who, after that fight, was definitely not Spider-Man either). Not to mention, Parker has shown himself to be more physically challenged while playing dodge ball as well, which should've been a walk in the park for someone like Spider-Man. Besides, it didn't seem likely that Spider-Man would succumb himself to someone like Flash when he could easily rule the school and be the most popular kid in Midtown High.

Unless...hmmm…

 _Unless_...

Taskmaster's lips pulled into a sharp smile. Oh, Parker was a clever kid. It was all just a ruse. A way to keep the spotlight off of him. What better way to keep a secret identity than to be someone opposite of your alter-ego? Taskmaster leaned back in his chair, chuckling to himself.

Funny how just one slip of the tongue could bring an entire team down.

He stared at his screen where the student pictures of Ava Ayala, Daniel Rand, Luke Cage, and Sam Alexander boxed the screen alongside a picture of their hero-counterpart. And in the center was Peter Parker, right next to a shot of Spider-Man.

"Gotcha."

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, so rewatching "Why I Hate the Gym" I realized that those kids gave away a LOT of who they were, and Taskmaster is no idiot so...
> 
> Boom! No more secret identity.
> 
> So sad.


End file.
